Time Away
by Shelly00
Summary: What does Optimus plan to do with his time away from fighting?


My kids finally finished watching Robots in Disguise. This answers 2 questions I had from that show - what was Arcee doing, since she didn't show up even though both Ratchet and Bulkhead did, and what did Optimus plan to do with his time away from fighting. It is very short and very fluffy and insisted on being written. It is unbetaed because my husband doesn't know that I'm still writing and is out of town anyway. Credit for this story's existence belongs to PureSummerMagic. It's not exactly the fic she wanted to exist, but I wouldn't have thought of this if it weren't for a conversation with her.

* * *

Optimus left Bumblebee and his team on Earth and quickly headed back to Cybertron. He hadn't let on just how eager he was for time away from fighting. He was eager to begin the life he had planned to live after Cybertron was restored - the life that was taken from him by the need to contain Unicron's spark. Now, he just needed to find her.

Perhaps find was the wrong word. He knew where she was. He just needed to go to her, to find out if she would forgive him for not going to her sooner, and for sacrificing his life in the first place.

The small settlement he approached on the opposite side of the planet from Iacon wasn't quite where he expected her to be, but after he landed some distance away and began walking towards where he knew she was, it became clear why she chose it. Everyone knew who he was, of course, and many stopped him to ask for pictures. He obliged, telling himself that they would become accustomed to his presence once they realized he was staying. The number of sparklings in the crowd told him exactly why she was here. She had always wanted a family, so being in a place with sparklings, even if they couldn't be hers, would make her happy.

In their final days on Earth, after Megatron had been defeated, they had finally begun to allow themselves to think of the future. They had planned so many things, and having a sparkling, or several, was at the top of both of their lists. As he walked, he smiled to himself, thinking that that dream could now come true.

He approached the row of houses on the outskirts of the town, after the crowds had finally settled down, and paused for a moment, thinking about all of the things he needed to say to her now.

* * *

Arcee knew he wasn't dead. She had known from the moment he flew into the well of allsparks. He was different, transformed, as he had said, but his spark hadn't left this universe. She would know if it had. She knew when he was resurrected to deal with Megatronus. She had thought, perhaps, he would come to her then, but he hadn't. She wondered why, but it soon became apparent that the high council of their planet was corrupt. She thought that perhaps he intended to find out why and fix it before they began their life together. She had become accustomed to the pull on her spark, the desire to go to him, and had learned to ignore it. She would seek him out, once everything was settled, if he didn't come to her. She hoped that he knew better than to think that she was angry with him, but perhaps he didn't.

This morning when she woke, the pull was stronger than ever. She had no explanation for it, but she knew that the corrupt council was gone - exposed as Decepticons several days ago by Bumblebee and his team. Optimus had replaced them with bots that she knew, and they would see to it that Cybertron was free once again.

Later in the morning, with the pull ever increasing, she decided to travel to Iacon, to visit with her old friends on the new high council, and perhaps find out where he was, and what he was doing, and why she hadn't seen him yet. Never did she expect to step out of her front door and come face to face with him.

* * *

Optimus stopped his approach when he heard footsteps walking toward the door inside her home. He froze as the door began to open, realizing that he had no idea what to say first.

When she stepped out into the sunlight and their optics met, nothing mattered any longer. With a startled cry, she dropped the things she had been carrying and ran, jumping into his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him as tightly as she possibly could. He held her close, but was careful not to hug her so tight that he hurt her.

"I missed you so much," she sobbed against his neck. "I thought I might never see you again." She had been choking back tears for years, every time she thought about him. Now they all tumbled out as tears of relief at finally being together again.

"I had to be certain it was safe to return," he said, and his optics were wet as well. "I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to you because of me."

She pulled away to look into his optics, smiling through her tears of joy. "How long can you stay?" she asked.

"Forever," was his reply, and she collapsed against him again. She could stay right where she was forever and be completely happy.

* * *

News that Optimus Prime was visiting their town had spread like wildfire, which was why he had had to greet so many on his short walk through the town. Once they got their pictures though, they left him alone. His reunion with Arcee was private, even though they met in her front yard. It wouldn't remain that way for long though.

"Mommy, mommy!" a young sparkling cried as he ran down the street and up to a house. "Look at Ms. Arcee!" The child's mother stepped outside and looked toward her friend's home, then stepped back into her own, calling for her sparkmate. Soon there were multiple families peeking out of their front doors, anxious to ask questions but unwilling to interrupt what appeared to be a very important moment for the femme who had become a dear friend to many.

"We have an audience," Optimus whispered, and she laughed. She wanted to kiss him, to drag him backwards into her home and show him how much she had missed him, but if he was staying, she had some explaining to do before they could disappear together.

She let go, and he lowered her back to the ground. She smiled at the sparkling that had alerted the neighborhood to her behavior with the leader of the autobots and gestured him to come closer. He walked slowly, and she knelt to his level. "Star," she said when he finally stopped in front of her, "I'd like you to meet my sparkmate, Optimus."

The reaction from her neighbors was immediate. She found herself nearly knocked down by Star's mother - her best friend and next door neighbor. "Why didn't you tell me?!" she exclaimed.

"I didn't want anyone to treat me differently because of who I am bound to," Arcee explained, "and I didn't want anyone to treat me with pity thinking that he was dead when I knew that he wasn't."

The other femmes on the street had surrounded her, and she was being moved away from Optimus slowly. She looked back, trying to catch his optics and have him pull her out of there, but he had crouched down and was speaking to Star.

"Are you going to take Ms. Arcee away?" the little boy asked.

"No," he replied to the relief of Star and several other sparklings that had begun to advance on him, "my home is wherever she is. If she wants to stay here, then here we shall stay.". He realized that he didn't know what job she held in this town, but she was important to these sparklings.

Finally, her friends realized that they were pulling her away from her sparkmate after they had only been reunited for a few minutes. They pushed her back towards him, whispering that they wanted all the details later. They gathered up their sparklings and their own sparkmates and disappeared into their houses. Within a few minutes, she was again alone with Optimus in her front yard.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into her house, jumping into his arms and kissing him soundly as soon as the door closed.

* * *

Later, lying in bed with Arcee sleeping beside him, Optimus thought about how different life was going to be now that the fighting had stopped. He looked forward to this new beginning, and to many years of peace.


End file.
